The present invention relates to loose fill insulation material packing machines and more particularly to such machines utilized to pack a low density loose fill cellulose insulation material into flexible bags.
It is a difficult process to pack relatively low density cellulose insulation material into receiving bags. The problem arises from the fact that the cellulose insulation material is by nature extremely light weight (weighing approximately one half pound per cubic foot) and formed of independent short fibers. It is not unusual that this light weight material will bridge across an ordinary upright hopper with no support below other than the frictional engagement between the bridged volume of material and the hopper walls. It may therefore be understood that handling of such material is a rather difficult procedure and requires equipment especially designed to avoid an occurance at which the material will bridge across a hopper or a delivery tube opening to thereby halt its progress toward a delivery station or a filling station.
In addition, such light weight material as low density cellulose insulation is necessarily bulky by nature. It is therefore desirable to provide some means of compacting this material while it is being packaged to reduce the storage volume requirement that would ordinarily be prohibitive. Such low density loose fill cellulose insulation material lends itself well to compaction within relatively any container. However, to provide an efficient means for holding compacted cellulose insulation, flexible plastic bags have been found to be preferable. Such bags do not substantially increase the compacted volume of the cellulose material held therein nor do they substantially add to the total weight of the product. A problem, however, has been to produce a machine that will successfully fill and compact cellulose insulation material within such a flexible platic bag.
A known type of cellulose fiber insulating packing machine utilizes a horizontal auger to feed the material directly into a waiting bag. Other machines utilize a horizontally disposed ram to push the material into a bag. These machines, while somewhat effective, are slow and cumbersome. Part of the difficulty is that the bags must be held longitudinally open while being filled. This is a difficult task and often results in torn bags. Another difficulty is that the bags, when filled horizontally, do not retain a uniform shape and are therefore difficult to stack for storage purposes.
It has been found that if cellulose fiber type insulation is packed into upright bags held open within a mold, the result is uniformly packed bags of consistent dimension and weight. Also, bags filled in an upright condition within a mold are less likely to burst while being filled.
One object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for packing loose fill cellulose insulation material into flexible containers that includes appropriate and effective means for preventing bridging of the cellulose material as the material is delivered to a packaging loction.
Another object of the present invention is to provide such a machine that will enable compaction of the cellulose material within a flexible bag without damaging the bag.
A further object is to provide such a machine that will pack equal amounts of material in successive bags and that will produce a uniform filled bag configuration.
Another object is to provide such a machine that will quickly and efficiently fill successive upright open flexible containers with premeasured amounts of cellulose insulating material.
A still further object is to provide such an apparatus that is relatively simple in design, easy to manufacture, and inexpensive to operate.
These and still further objects and advantages will become apparent upon reading the following description which, taken with the accompanying drawings, disclose a preferred form of the present invention. It is to be noted that the disclosure and drawings contained herein are simply illustrative of a preferred form of the present invention and that other modified forms thereof may be easily devised by those skilled in the art to which this invention pertains. It is therefore intended that only the following claims be taken as restrictions upon the scope of the present invention.